Bill O'Reilly on Gay Marriage: 'Compelling Argument is on the Side of Homosexuals'

Bill O'Reilly on Gay Marriage: 'Compelling Argument is on the Side of Homosexuals'

Bill O'Reilly says gay marriage opponents are losing the debate.

"The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals," O'Reilly said on "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday. "That's where the compelling argument is. 'We're Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.'"

O'Reilly said that the opposition's case relies too heavily on religion.

"The argument on the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible," O'Reilly said.

His comments come as the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing two same-sex marriage cases. On Tuesday, justices heard oral arguments on the legality of California's 2008 Proposition 8 ban on marriages for gay and lesbian couples. The court is also hearing arguments on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

O'Reilly heaped scorn on former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law, but now opposes it, as well as President Barack Obama, who changed his position on marriage equality by endorsing it during his re-election campaign.

O'Reilly said that both men made politically expedient decisions by altering their views to match growing popular support for gay marriage. A poll by CBS News this week found that 53 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, while 39 percent believe it should be illegal.

"This is what sleazy politicians do," O'Reilly said.

"They don't care about gays," he added. "If they cared about gays they would have been on board in the beginning."

O'Reilly, who supports civil unions, made it clear that gay marriage is not an issue that animates him and is one that should be decided by individual states.

"The gay marriage thing, I don't feel that strongly about it one way or another," O'Reilly said.